Four Barrels Walking Wine Trail

Sunday March 3 was a picture-perfect day.  It started out cool-- around 7C in the morning and got to 28C by mid afternoon.  We had a jam-packed day.  We caught the 7:25 a.m. local bus that took us into town.  We then caught the 8:00 a.m. InterCity bus to Cromwell, a nearby town in wine country.  We arrived a bit early at 8:45 a.m.   Central Otago is the world's most southerly wine-growing region world-renowned for its Pinot Noir.

We had read an article in the Globe & Mail about the 4 Barrels Walking Wine Trail, a self-guided tour that takes in four wineries on an eight kilometre loop that can be completed in about four hours, a bit longer if one stops for lunch.  The only cost are the tasting fees.  The tour starts at a winery just minutes from the I-Site Visitor Centre and the InterCity bus stop in Cromwell.

Morning view from the local bus stop near our Airbnb

Another view

Views from the InterCity bus heading out of Queenstown

Morning mists

Heading along the Lake

More mountain views

We arrived in Cromwell and stopped to get a map of the town and pick up the brochure about the
4 Barrels tour.  A few minutes away was  "The Big Fruit".   Besides wine, the area grows apples, stone fruit and berries.

The Big Fruit

Before we went on the 4 Barrels Wine Trail (it was a bit too early for wine), we walked about 30 minutes in the opposite direction to Cromwell's Heritage Precinct to go to the Sunday morning Farmers' and Craft Market near Lake Dunstan.   In 1990, Lake Dunstan was formed as a storage reservoir for the Clyde Dam.  The lake flooded the Main Street of the original township of Cromwell, which dated back to the gold rush of the 1860's.  Some of the historic buildings were saved or dismantled and rebuilt on the new site of the Cromwell Heritage Precinct.  Many of the buildings have their original signage even though they house different retail stores today.  There are also a few buildings that are open to the public and contain artefacts and written commentaries.

Lake Dunstan

Sign for Market in front of old 1900 Masonic Temple building

Sign for Heritage Precinct

A wool shop today

Craft stalls

Alain buying a treat at the patisserie stall

Almond tree grown from a nut "rescued" from the original almond tree grown by an early pioneering  family in the garden of a house near this site.  The original tree was felled during land work for the formation of Old Cromwell Town.

Caffeine Injection- at the Market

Market area

We walked to the Lake to have our coffee

Fishing off the pier

Old Time feel

Beautiful weather-- we delayered as the day went on

We then walked around the Historic Precinct buildings, which were just opening at around 10:00 a.m.

Now an art gallery

Gallery window- part of Central Otago Arts Trail

Not a bakery now--- home to a gorgeous co-op art gallery called hullabaloo art space

Now Grain and Seed Café but closed on Sunday

Old Post Office-- now The Office-Restaurant & Bar

Alain walking the quiet streets of the Historic Precinct

Old cars too

We walked back to the area just east of the I-Site Visitor's Centre to start our 4 Barrels Walking Trail.   Perfect timing as it was about 11:00 a.m. and all the wineries were open.  The first stop was Misha's Vineyard, which has award winning wines and turned out to be our favourite of the four wineries on the trail.

There was a lovely small tasting room and we tasted 5 wines.  The tasting fee was $10 (Alain and I always share one tasting), but it could be applied to a bottle purchase.  We tasted 5 wines--three different Pinot Noirs, a Pinot Rosé and a Pinot Gris (rated No. 1 in NZ by Bob Campbell (Master of Wine).  All were excellent.  We ended up buying the Lakefront Terrace Pinot Noir 2014, from their cellar, made for the Wine Society.  It was a small release and was drinking very well in early 2019.  We have also discovered that the NZ Pinot Gris are much drier and more to our liking than ones we have tasted from Canada or the US.  However, we are only here for a few more nights, so a bottle of Pinot Noir was our choice.

Our server told us the history of the winery and the design of the label.  Misha and Andy Wilkinson are the owners.  Misha was originally from Australia and her husband is a Kiwi.   They had lived for 16 years in Singapore and wanted to do something different after a career in marketing.  They first found their winemaker Olly Masters who has been the winemaker since the beginning of Misha's Vineyard.

They have focused on Lucky 8, a number in Chinese culture representing prosperity and good fortune.  The Vineyard is located on State Highway 8, just 8 km from Cromwell and on land originally known as Sheep Run 238.  At their ground-breaking ceremony in 2004, they placed a Chinese coin beneath their first 8 planted vines to symbolically return the 'old gold" to the ground and bring luck for the "new gold".  Cromwell had been one of the gold rush towns in Central Otago in the 1860s.

Misha's Tasting Room

Lovely inside

Large picture of the winery

One of the Pinot Noir Labels -- jagged edge represents the mountains in the area.  Gold coins are the ones they buried in the ground.

After Misha's we continued the trail along one part of Lake Dunstan.  We did get a bit lost, but got sorted and went to the next winery- Aurum.  Aurum produces single vineyard, certified organic wines and olive oil.  The tasting room is situated in the original farm cottage.  Aurum is Latin for gold and it is a family owned and operated boutique winery established by Joan and Tony Lawrence in 1997.  Their son Brock is the viticulturist and winemaker and his wife Luice, a graduate in oenology from Dijon University in France, is the principal winemaker.  We had some lovely wines.  Pinot Noir really is king in this part of NZ.

The trail between the wineries, partially along Lake Dunstan

Alain on the trek

Gate and 4 Barrels signage entering Aurum

Tasting room in original farm cottage

Olive trees out back

Vines covered to protect against birds--- harvest will be in about 4-5 weeks

We walked along a couple of fruit orchards on the way to the third winery.  The apples were ripe and falling off the trees.

Gorgeous apple trees (Alain scooped up a few to eat later)

Webb's Fruit, established 1914

The third winery we went to was Scott Base.  Allan Scott, a wine-making pioneer, who also owns a winery in the Marlborough area, is the owner.  His children all work in the family business. The Vineyard was established in 1994.  The name incorporates the Scott family name but is also named after Scott Base in Antarctica.  A percentage of their wine sales is donated to the Antarctic Heritage Trust to help restore huts built by Sir Edmund Hillary at Scott Base.

Scott Base sign and logo

The Vineyards

Alain checking out the grapes

With the 4 Barrels brochure

Selfie in the vineyards-- it was very warm by this time

We stopped at their Cellar Door- called Space at the Base, to sample some wines and to have lunch.

Small tasting room and outdoor space for lunch

We had our tasting of 5 lovely wines along with our lunch of avocado on sourdough bread with a piece of smoked salmon.

Perfect setting and good food too

Alain enjoying the sun and wines

The wines were very good too.  We started with a taste of Emperor Blanc de Blanc--- very lovely and perfect on a warm summer day.

Emperor Blanc de Blanc- named after Emperor penguins.

The wines

The last winery was The Wooing Tree, named after a very large "Wooing Tree" in the middle of the winery.

The Wooing Tree in the middle of the vineyard

We hopped the fence and walked through the vineyards where the people in the picture were walking

Gorgeous setting

Alain enjoying a beautiful day in the vineyards

The Wooing Tree in the midst of vineyards

Sign at one entrance to The Wooing Tree ( where we exited from)

We caught the 5:20 p.m. InterCity bus (which was about 10 minutes late) back to Queenstown and took the local bus back to our Airbnb.  We had a chicken dinner and drank half of our bottle of Misha's Vineyard LakeFront Terrace Pinot Noir 2014.  It was an excellent choice.

The label of our bottle